Companies that offer Bulk SMS Service in Australia

The Bulk SMS Comparison site reviews a range of good SMS providers in Australia.

From this thorough review, WholesaleSMS offered the best value.

Number of Major Bulk SMS Companies in Australia

A large number of bulk sms providers are offering their services to SME, large businesses and non for profits in Australia. To choose the right one for your needs can become an exhaustive and difficult task for someone who isn’t familiar with the way bulk sms distribution works. Hopefully this site will provide you with the guidance and direction to make your life easier in selecting the right mass text message service for your needs.

Bulk SMS distribution is an effective and efficient way of sending out messages promptly with ease. You only need to provide the bulk distributor with a database of names of clients, customers or employees, which ever it may be and the rest is done for you in a matter of a few minutes from start to receiving the sms. It really does not matter whether the volume is small or large in numbers, the communication system of distribution is the same.

Because there are so many SMS providers available, the authors of this site, who hare experts in the SMS field (but who now no longer work in this field as will be discussed further down the page) have reviewed a large number and have come up with a reliable set of reputable providers for your consideration. These companies include WholesaleSMS, SMSTech, DirectSMS, Textit and SMS Central, ClickSend, Burst SMS, BroadcastSMS SMS Global, BulkSMS.

What these bulk SMS companies do?

From the outset, these bulk SMS providers do not require you to provide any new software to be installed or downloaded because they are totally web based. The only requirement placed on the company engaging their service is to have access to a web browser and the internet and to provide a database of people who should the communication messages. It’s that simple.

What the bulk SMS provider saves the contacts and set up specific groups so that they can manage these contacts, so when a text message is needed to be sent out, it is a matter of letting the provider know which group(s) need to receive the text message and within a short period of time, the SMS is distributed.

As stated above, behind the scene, thorough knowledge and research of the features, price, reliability, reputation and certification such as ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 for quality and security are doen so as to provide you with sound evaluation of these providers .

What about the features offered by these bulk SMS companies?

It is important that one is fully aware of the features that bulk SMS companies have to offer.

Firstly, it is a real advantage to know that the distribution of SMS is a two-way process. By knowing that under instruction by you, that the provider has sent large number of SMS at the same time to groups of target audiences, whether they are in large volumes or small volumes, at the right time and that the client can receive responses or replies that can be forwarded to a specific email address of the client through the computer or mobile phone is a great way of knowing everything has gone to plan. Many of the providers listed can offer such a delivery tracking system analysis service which can be of great benefit to the client who is managing a marketing or a communication campaign. The recording is exported onto an Excel spreadsheet for evaluation.

Howe is this all done, you may ask? These bulk SMS providers have the facilities to run high speed connections gateways which have the capacity to manage high volume text messages at any one time within short time frame of a matter of a few seconds. The delivery reports received indicate results such as bounce back of messages sent through via the API or online platform.

All of the companies have global coverage and in many cases offer onshore and offshore delivery of text messages. In some cases it is optional or not part of their features as can be seen on the comparison table provided.

By thoroughly reviewing the bulk SMS distributors outlined above and looking at their diverse range of features used for distribution, it became evident that SMSTech, SMS Central and WholesaleSMS provided a very good set of features compared to other competitors in the mass distribution of text messaging. The other competitors rated lower because their limited number of features but does not mean they should be excluded from further consideration.

What about the charges covered by bulk SMS companies?

There will always be serious consideration taken over the charges imposed on the client for the use of their services. In the case of bulk sms providers listed there were five companies that were reviewed in detail over their costings. It was found that WholesaleSMS was significantly cheaper than all its competitors followed by SMS Tech and then DirectSMS. TextIT was far more expensive. Interestingly, the charges by SMS Central were not disclosed or transparent for a judgement to be made.

Of course, charges differ on the volume of SMS distributed on a monthly basis. This will vary dependent on whether the distribution is less than 10,000 sms per moth to 250,000+ per month. Even taking such different volumes into account it was still seen that Wholesale is the cheapest bulk SMS distributor ion all accounts.

When comparing the rates for different sms volumes, the difference in charges ranged from 10% to as much as 30% more expensive for the same mass distribution. For low volumes, the charges investigated varied but in general there was a 20% difference when comparing cheapest to the most expensive charges. With larger numbers around 100,000+ sent on a monthly basis, there was a significant large differential of around 30%. With 250,000+ sms sent monthly, once again the difference between cheapest to most expensive bulk provider was around 30%.

TABLE

When comparing the rates for different sms volumes, the difference in charges ranged from 10% to as much as 30% more expensive for the same mass distribution. For low volumes, the charges investigated varied but in general there was a 20% difference when comparing cheapest to the most expensive charges. With larger numbers around 100,000+ sent on a monthly basis, there was a significant large differential of around 30%. With 250,000+ sms sent monthly, once again the difference between cheapest to most expensive bulk provider was around 30%.

In summary, even though the charges vary between bulk sms companies dependent on the size of the sms distribution, it was very evident that WholesaleSMS is a clear winner followed by SMS Broadcast, ClickSend and SMS Tech. As will be emphasised below please ensure you check with these bulk sms providers about charges as they may change without warning.

And the reliability and latency of each bulk SMS company……

Reliability is of paramount importance as is charges. The reliability of a bulk sms company to distribute important messages when instructed by the client needs to be done with the utmost importance. By requesting an immediate feedback once the text message has been disseminated will provide reassurance to the client. So one of the selection criteria when engaging an appropriate bulk provider is to know that full documentation of every distribution is recorded and evaluated. When researching these bulk sms providers it was seen that such reporting systems are part of their services.

These bulk sms companies provide an uptime guarantee of either 99% or 99.9% and some even stated as a reassurance to clients their 100% uptime with a Service Level Guarantee. This reliability factor is what clients want from these providers. Therefore, the latency between sending and receiving sms means that the time delay being observed is minimal.

Of the 10 bulk sms providers reviewed it can be seen that six of the ten had an excellent reliability rating which need to be factored into the selection to engage such a company by a potential client.

The reliability factor is a major issue of Australian and multinational companies and a detailed list of clients engaging services of these bulk sms providers can be viewed on their websites.

Finally, what about customer service, help and compliance of these bulk SMS companies?

When reviewing their customer service it was seen that these companies do provide a dedicated number for clients to contact them. In most cases they have a phone support service, which is two-way, as well as email; support and the availability of a free trial to test their sms distribution methodology and effectiveness. Such free trials range from 5 free SMS to 60 free SMS. The support hours are in every case business hours rather than 24/7 hours.

With the exception of TextIt, all the other bulk providers ensure messages are anti-SPAM compliant. A cleaning service is also available to clean text messaging contact lists once imported and the numbers can be re-formatted if required.

When comparing the SMS Providers customer service, assistance and compliance requirements, it can be seen that a number of these companies fare very well in these categories and need to be complimented on such standards.

About Bulk SMS Comparison Site

The bulk sms providers’ comparison site was produced for your use. It outlines all the features, costs, services and supported related issues that will enable you to make a business decision about which provider to review or engage for your needs.

The comparison site was prepared by a group of experts in the text messaging field that no longer work in that area and therefore are independent and arm’s length from bulk sms providers in Australia. It came about when they were in the sms field that people were confused about what services and features they needed to know prior to employing a sms company.

The comparison site and table outlines all the major selection criteria that need to be considered by any potential client. It is free to any user however a commission will be requested if you should click onto a specific bulk sms provider site and engage their services.

In presenting this site, there may be changes made by the sms providers without giving the authors any notice in advance. Should you see any changes that need to be made to this site to be aligned with changes to the provider’s site, it would be appreciate if you would notify the authors so that alterations can be made promptly.